1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for merchandise retail management, and a portable terminal for use in stores retailing commodities to customers and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In stores retailing commodities to customers, it is important that commodities purchased by customers can be sufficiently confirmed, and that when customers purchase a commodity, no waiting time is incurred at the time of settling payment or receiving commodities, for example. Additionally, anti-theft measures are also important.
As a general method for the selection of commodities by customers in the retail industry, like in a supermarket for example, customers directly choose commodities from a sales area and bring commodities to the cash register counter. However, when the commodities increase in size, the area necessary for the sales area increases, and customers are forced to bear the hassle of bringing commodities to the cash register counter. Consequently, a large-sized commodity is purchased in various manners. For example, desired commodities are directly pointed out to a store employee, and the store employee prepares the commodities; a paper slip which is attached to a sample display commodity of a desired commodity and is imprinted with the name and barcode thereof is brought to the cash register counter; and the method of selecting a commodity is selected from a catalog for the selection of commodities placed on the store counter.
FIG. 16A and FIG. 16B are views of a wireless tag 1 developed as a replacement for barcodes with technology for identifying articles such as commodities. As shown in FIG. 16A, the wireless tag 1 is formed by printing the conductor pattern of an antenna 3 on the surface of an insulating substrate 2, and further mounting an IC chip 4 on the insulating substrate 2 to serve as a semiconductor integrated circuit. The insulating substrate 2 has a size of about 60 mm×10 mm, for example.
As shown in FIG. 16B, an electromagnetic wave 6 is radiated from a reader 5, and if power is supplied to the antenna 3 of the wireless tag 1, a reflected wave of an intensity changed according to previously set data inside the IC chip 4 is radiated from the antenna 3. The reader 5 detects the reflected wave and can perform the contactless recognition of data.
FIG. 17 schematically shows the electrical configuration of the wireless tag 1 and the reader 5 shown in FIG. 16A and FIG. 16B. The wireless tag 1 includes a send/receive portion 7, a controller 8, and a memory 9 within the IC chip 4. The reader 5 includes an antenna 10, a send/receive portion 11 and a controller 12, and is also capable of data communication with a host computer 13. The memory 9 is a flash memory, for example, and can store the content of written data, the data having been written on it. The memory capacity of the memory 9 can easily be set to around 1024 bits (128 bytes), for example, and can display a large amount of information in comparison to regular one-dimensional barcodes only capable of displaying information of 13 digits in JAN code, for example. Additionally, contactless readout can be performed between the reader 5 and the wireless tag 1, and data can be read at a distance of around 30 cm to 1 m, for example. Data can be easily rewritten if a dedicated writer is used.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 10-162247 (1998) discloses a purchased commodities registration system that uses wireless tags, and a purchased commodities payment settlement system using this registration apparatus. In this conventional technology, a wireless tag is attached to each commodity, and the commodity is organized on an open display shelf. A wireless tag reading apparatus is provided at the commodity takeout opening of the display shelf. A customer IC card is inserted into the wireless tag reading apparatus, and when a commodity is retrieved from the opening when the customer IC card is inserted in the wireless tag reading apparatus, the wireless tag reading apparatus detects this and information is registered onto the customer IC card. Because the customer brings the commodity and the IC card together to the sales counter, settling payment can be simplified.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2000-30150 (2000) discloses a related art technology wherein a wireless tag is attached to each commodity displayed in the sales floor for the purpose of prevention of theft as well as payment for commodities.
In the retail industry, when commodities are placed in a store and retailed, the retailer has numerous details to consider, including securing a space for placing commodities, managing inventory, methods of display, preventing damage and uncleanliness, preventing theft of the commodities, maintenance such as updating information and prices, and the distribution of appropriate store employees capable of explaining the commodities. Cost is also important.
Additionally, customers wanting to purchase a commodities are forced to endure troublesome inconveniences and waiting times, such as bringing commodities for purchase to the sales counter, making purchase requests to store employees for large commodities that is difficult to move, determining which store employees are knowledgeable of a particular commodity when desiring an explanation of that commodity, time spent waiting at the cash register counter when payment is being settled, and time spent designating goods to be delivered, designating the payment method, and waiting until wrapping is finished.
As in JP-A 10-162247 and JP-A 2000-30150, for example, by using wireless tags there is the possibility that a portion of the aforementioned problems can be solved. With these examples of conventional technology, however, the feature of each commodity being individually displayed and the customer bringing a selected commodity to a cash register counter is identical to the conventional format of supermarkets, for example, and improving the aspect of forcing the customer to carry the purchased commodity and wait for the wrapping is problematical. Moreover, a wireless tag must be attached to each commodity, and numerous reading apparatus must be provided, so the cost required by the store increases instead.